Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $5.06.

GERN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. B. Riley lowered Geron from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $3.50 to $2.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank lowered Geron from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $4.00 to $1.50 in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th.

Geron Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ GERN traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $1.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,996,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,749,369. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business's 50 day moving average is $1.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.48. Geron has a 12-month low of $1.17 and a 12-month high of $5.34. The firm has a market cap of $939.45 million, a P/E ratio of -4.61 and a beta of 0.76.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $39.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $49.88 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. Geron's revenue was up 12927.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.07) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Geron will post -0.25 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Geron by 114.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,299,912 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $5,902,000 after buying an additional 694,931 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Geron by 45.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 24,414 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 7,592 shares during the last quarter. Nvest Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Geron during the 4th quarter worth approximately $693,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Geron by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 128,176 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 12,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazari Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Geron by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 76,424 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 8,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.71% of the company's stock.

About Geron

Geron Corporation, a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for myeloid hematologic malignancies. It develops imetelstat, a telomerase inhibitor that is in Phase 3 clinical trials, which inhibits the uncontrolled proliferation of malignant stem and progenitor cells in myeloid hematologic malignancies for the treatment of low or intermediate-1 risk myelodysplastic syndromes and intermediate-2 or high-risk myelofibrosis.